Transport chief appointed

GERRY MURPHY has been appointed chief executive designate of the Dublin Transport Authority (DTA). Former Dublin city manager John Fitzgerald has been appointed chairman.

The new agency will have a broad range of responsibilities, including managing congestion and regulating public transport providers in the capital.

It will also be in charge of funding for major transport projects and for the provision of an integrated ticketing system.

While conceived to better co-ordinate transport planning in Dublin, Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey is keen for the agency to have a national remit.

Once the DTA has been formally established, by the end of the year, the Minister plans to bring forward the Public Transport Regulation Bill to give it a nationwide remit.

This means it will be responsible for commercial bus route licensing and the allocation of public transport subventions nationally. It will also oversee local and county development plans.

The Commission for Taxi Regulation and Dublin Transport Office are to be subsumed into the new body with a number of functions currently carried out by the department, transferred.

Mr Murphy is a qualified engineer and was appointed chief executive of the Grangegorman Development Agency in June 2007. He was previously involved with the National Roads Authority and in the project management of Dublin Port Tunnel.

Mr Fitzgerald currently chairs the GDA, An Post and the Limerick Regeneration Agency.